Traders Purchase Large Volume of B2Gold Call Options (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG)

B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors purchased 4,754 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 41% compared to the average volume of 3,368 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BTG. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of B2Gold by 132.2% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 99,015 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 56,366 shares in the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. increased its stake in shares of B2Gold by 470.1% in the 3rd quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 855,133 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,471,000 after acquiring an additional 705,133 shares during the last quarter. KG&L Capital Management LLC raised its stake in B2Gold by 14.7% during the third quarter. KG&L Capital Management LLC now owns 98,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 12,600 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in shares of B2Gold by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 1,065,434 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,060,000 after buying an additional 22,986 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 96.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,265,601 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,658,000 after buying an additional 621,913 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.40% of the company’s stock.

B2Gold Stock Down 3.3 %

BTG stock opened at $2.52 on Tuesday. B2Gold has a 52 week low of $2.34 and a 52 week high of $4.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $2.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a PE ratio of 125.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.09.

B2Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.08 by ($0.01). B2Gold had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 0.31%. The firm had revenue of $511.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $512.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that B2Gold will post 0.23 earnings per share for the current year.

B2Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a $0.04 dividend. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.36%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. B2Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 400.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on BTG. CIBC downgraded shares of B2Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $4.20 to $3.60 in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of B2Gold from $4.00 to $3.50 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of B2Gold in a report on Thursday, February 29th. They set a “buy” rating and a $3.50 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, B2Gold presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.10.

About B2Gold

B2Gold Corp. operates as a gold producer company. It operates the Fekola Mine in Mali, the Masbate Mine in the Philippines, and the Otjikoto Mine in Namibia. The company also has an 100% interest in the Gramalote gold project in Colombia; 24% interest in the Calibre Mining Corp.; and approximately 19% interest in BeMetals Corp.